Chapter 11
"I saw Frank."
Lilly found her friends enjoying their lunch in the house. She went to the fridge and grabbed herself a drink before she joined them in the lounge room.
"You did?" asked Katanya.
Lilly nodded, "he yelled at me for just riding past his property."
"He does that. He hates people being around that area."
"Why?"
"He's a grumpy, lonely old man. He's been that was ever since he arrived on that ranch."
"Has he been there his whole life?"
"No. He inherited the ranch, and everyone around here as a feeling he didn't ask for it."
"That could be why he doesn't look after it."
"Right."
"Well," said Lilly, "he's a horrible man, and I really hope our plan works on Saturday. If Buell really is there, I don't want him there any longer."
"I know," replied Katrina, "we'll get him back; don't worry."
"I hope so."
With that, Lilly decided she had had enough for the day, and she wanted to go home for a while. It would have been nice to have the place to herself for a while, but she would wait and see. So, she said goodbye to her friends before she went to sort out Pharoah. She made him comfortable in the round pen again and then she headed down to the bus stop to head home.
While she waited for the bus, she had a chance to think about everything that was on her mind, and she hoped she would be able to sort it out. The number one thing on her mind, obviously, was Buell, and she really hoped the plan on Saturday worked. She decided it was a pretty good plan and it didn't have any flaws, but her life had proved to her that anything could happen so she would just have to wait and see.
The second thing on her mind was Harrison and Odette. It actually felt like a betrayal to see the pair of them dating, and it was annoying because Harrison barely knew the girl. Granted, Lilly didn't know much about Odette herself, but she did know that she wasn't a nice person at all, and she had no respect for the people (or horses) around her. And it was all because she was a rich girl. A small part of Lilly wondered if that was what attracted Harrison to her.
Those were the two big things on her mind, but another thing was change. Everything in her life had changed so suddenly, and she was thrown into what seemed to be a whirlwind of a week. She didn't expect Buell to go missing (or be stolen) in the first couple of days of his arrival, and she didn't expect to be a part of the group of kids that wanted to find him. But here she was, already making her mark in Sandy Beach.
It was a little scary.
But Lilly was distracted from her thoughts when the bus pulled up at the stop, and she got on. She knew the route from her house to the ranch and back like, well, the back of her hand now, and she figured she could have made her way there and back with her eyes closed. But that wasn't surprising, and Lilly hoped that she was an adaptable person because of it.
...
When Lilly got home, there were no cars in the driveway, so that meant that her family wasn't home. But she saw her best friend, Adelyn, seated on her front doorstep, and she was very happy to see her.
"The mass exodus is complete," said Adelyn as she gave her friend a hug.
"Looks like it," replied Lilly.
"What's going on?" asked Adelyn, "you look exhausted."
"Things change so quickly."
"I know, but not enough to be exhausting. It's just a move."
